Have you spotted the common trend in what we have been talking about over the last several weeks or have you been living under a rock, purposely trying to ignore it?
If you have been following along, it’s been incredibly obvious to see what one of the most important things is to your acting career, considering that we have discussed it in one way or another for quite some time now.
In case you are just now crawling out from under that rock, I’m talking about branding yourself as an actor and how to build a brand that makes casting directors notice you.
Over the years, I have not seen many actors get this right, at least not until wasting years wondering why their career was stalling.
The ones that do get it right, are usually the ones that are able to make big progress quickly and build successful careers.
If that’s something you would like to do too, then you have to learn this...
First, let’s clear up something pretty important.
Your brand is not one single thing. It’s not your name, your “look” or even the credits on your resume.
As an actor, your brand is a combination of everything having to do with you.
How you define your brand has as much to do with the things you choose to pursue, as the things you don’t.
Your brand will influence what casting directors think, when they first see you. That’s almost always going to be through your headshot, so that’s why I spent a great amount of time talking about how to make sure your headshots are always in line with your brand.
Like I said a moment ago, we have talked extensively about how everything stems from your brand so now let’s go over how to build the brand itself.
Branding yourself as an actor enables you to build deep relationships with people that are working on projects that align with your brand.
So the first thing to consider is who you want to build those relationships with.
Here’s what I mean...
If you don’t enjoy the company of people who like slapstick comedy for example, then building a brand that aligns closely with that would mean that you are surrounding yourself with people you don’t particularly want to be around.
So take some time and sit down to really think about this.
Think about the types of projects you most enjoy working on. Hone in on the one you enjoyed more than the rest because that’s probably the genre you should build your brand on.
A well defined brand will stick to a single genre early on.
That doesn’t mean you won’t be able to play outside of it, but you do have to develop your career to a certain point first.
Here’s why...
When you focus on a single genre, you spend a lot of time in front of the most dedicated fans of that genre.
That’s huge because they are the ones who will spread the word about every project you’re a part of.
In other words, that’s how you will start to build your fanbase.
So, once you decide what genre you want to focus your brand on, then start to make sure everything else matches that.
Most actors get this wrong. They start with getting their headshots done and getting an agent.
However, actors that focus on branding first tend to make more progress, quicker. This is because they can make sure their headshot is aligned with their brand.
They can also look to sign with an agent that works well with similar talent and has good working relationships with people working on projects that align with your brand.
Take Dwayne Johnson for example. Virtually everything he has done, has stemmed from building a brand as an action hero.
During his days as a professional wrestler, he was able to build a dedicated fanbase that was, no surprise, very much into action movies.
So, had he taken an entirely different direction and decided to pursue a different genre, it wouldn’t have aligned with his brand and his fanbase wouldn’t have followed.
Take that into consideration as well...
While you may not be a professional wrestler, is there a genre that you can tap into where you are already spending a lot of time and energy, off set, doing things that are somewhat related.
For example, being into extreme sports lends itself to building a brand that is focused on projects in the action genre.
If instead you enjoy sitting down with a good book for hours at a time, that would lend itself more to projects that are entirely different from the action genre.
Once you decide what you are going to be focusing on, you just have to make sure that everything you do as an actor aligns with that.
We’ll be talking more about it over the coming weeks... For now get started on what we talked about today.
Once you decide which way you want to go with your brand, here’s how I can help you show up better in the places where casting directors are already looking for talent.
I do want to be clear on something...
Building a brand by itself won’t do much for your career.
Even actors with well defined brands and materials that match their brand perfectly, will struggle to get their careers to the next level, if they don’t also focus on being visible to the industry. Here’s how I can help.
When you combine being highly visible to the industry, with a great brand, the possibilities are endless.
While your brand won’t launch your career, it can make building your acting career a lot easier.
That’s because you will have the building blocks every casting director looks for, already in place.
There are a few of them but your brand is probably the most important one. We’ll talk about the rest another time.
As you start deciding what direction you want to take, in terms of your brand, feel free to get in touch. I’m always happy to bounce ideas and help however I can because I truly want to...
See you at the top,
Scott